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Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Rick "Ricochet" Brennan served eight years as an elite Marine special ops Force Recon soldier. After an injury, and the terrible memories from that night, he retires and goes to work for his former Command Officer, Howard "Mack" McEvoy, at his training center in Atlanta.

Sanctum MMA appears on the surface to be a normal gym, training elite fighters to be the best. Except each trainer, hand-picked by Mack, possesses a special background that allows Mack to run one of the best-kept secrets in the country.
When twenty-three year old Quinn Wallace finally escapes her abusive husband, she turns to her father’s old Marine Corps buddy, Mack, for help. Broken and skittish, Quinn finds herself surrounded by large, intimidating men— men who could easily overpower her. She avoids them the best she can, but when Rick turns out to be more than just a rough fighter with bruised knuckles, she finds herself wondering if she can allow herself to trust again.

“Hey,” he said calmly. “Why aren’t you resting?” Rick put his hands on her shoulders, gently massaging her arms.

Quinn’s eyes grew large and went to his gloved hands.

Fuck, she hates fighting. Now I know why she looks freaked out.

Rick yanked his hands away and took a step back. “I didn’t mean for you to see me fight, Quinn. I’m sorry.”

To his surprise, Quinn stepped forward, closing the distance Rick had put between them. He watched as she hesitantly lifted her arms, placing her hands on his sweat-slicked chest. Her eyes met his and his breath left in a sharp huff. The fear he had expected to see wasn’t there. No… Quinn’s eyes were dark and glistening with lust.

“I didn’t know that watching you fight would be so comforting. It makes me feel safe, and… turned on,” she murmured. Rick shivered as her hands ran down his torso, moving over each defined muscle until they were resting on either side of his waist.

“Turned on?” Rick swallowed, barely able to speak with Quinn touching him like that. She was only just about healed from the attack. He figured it would be months, if not longer before she’d be interested in pursuing anything physical.

“Yes, turned on.” Quinn’s fingers dug into Rick’s waist, her thumbs making small circles on the ‘v’ shaped ridges of his lower abs. Scorching waves of pleasure rippled down his spine, instantly making his cock come to life.

“Jesus,” he muttered softly. Using every last bit of willpower he had, Rick captured Quinn’s wrists, removing her hands from his body. “Not here, doll.” He glanced around, but none of the other fighters were looking their way. Still, he’d kill them if they saw the lust in Quinn’s eyes. That was for him, and him alone.

Quinn pouted, crossing her arms and glaring like a kid denied her favorite candy.

He couldn’t help himself. The sight of this tiny thing trying to look intimidating was funny. Rick laughed. “You’re too much, doll.” The corner of her mouth twitched up—it was just a hint of a smile, but it made Rick’s day. Quinn hadn’t smiled once since his team rescued her. Seeing some of her personality coming back flooded him with emotion.

Ricochet: Locked & Loaded is a great start to an awesome series! I'm not usually a fan of serials since they sometimes take months between books and I generally lose interest but I was so excited to give this one a try and I'm sooo glad that I did.

Quinn is on the run from an abusive husband when she decides to seek out Mack, her father’s old Marine Corps buddy, and begins working at his MMA gym as a receptionist. At first she's skittish around all of the burly fighters, which makes sense given her background, but she eventually beings to open up and become the fun girl she was before Travis.

Rick earned the nickname Ricochet thanks to his manwhorish ways, and even though Quinn is extremely attracted to him and vice versa, both are hesitant to make the next move. When Quinn decides it's time to start dating again Rick becomes all alpha and stakes his claim.

This book starts off with a bang and literally keeps right on going until the very last page. But OMG!!! That ending... In all fairness, Heather did warn me about the cliffhanger but that was not what I was expecting! Okay, I don't know what I was expecting exactly... But I do know that that wasn't it!

Ricochet: Friendly Fire

Ricochet: Friendly Fire picks up 6 weeks after the first book ended. If you haven't read the first book please stop right here because this review does contain a spoiler...

After Rick staked his claim on Quinn in Locked and Loaded, and Quinn pulled a Ricochet move and took off in the middle of the night, she went to her father's old house to take the first steps in moving on with her life. She wants to be with Rick but needs to deal with her past first.

Rick has been a total wreck since Quinn left, but once she comes back he's not really sure how to act around her which causes some definite tension.

This book had so much back and forth going on between Quinn and Rick that the term Ricochet kept popping up in my head... I mean talk about whiplash! But once they decided that they wanted to be with each other things really started to pick up.

This book, of course, ended with another cliffy, which is way worse than the first book... But again, this is definitely a must read!!

Ricochet: Extraction Point

Ricochet: Extraction Point picks up right where Friendly Fire left off. If you haven't read the first two books please stop right here because this review does contain a spoiler...

Quinn is missing and Rick is freaking out. The whole team at Sanctum MMA are working together to find Quinn and bring her home.

Quinn really proves her strength in the final book. She's kidnapped by her husband, battered and broken, and yet she still doesn't give up without a fight.

And poor Rick... He's such a mess about everything that happened to Quinn and the fact that Travis wasn't caught.

I don't want to say too much but there are some definite twists and turns in this one that I didn't see coming.

Definitely a great ending to a great series! And I really hope that we get to see more of the Sanctum MMA guys in future books.

After growing up in New England, I currently live just outside Atlanta, GA.

I love the Red Sox and hate the Yankees.

I love hot, sexy romance novels, but hate long, drawn out misunderstandings as a plot line.